Black Hawk Basser

Try a hollow bodied frog right in the middle of the day in the thickest weed cover. You may not land one but you may be notified of their presence! Then follow up with a Texas rigged worm or fluke.

Sometimes if the hooked bass is small and the follower is big, their feeding instincts may kick in. What I think it is, at least sometimes, is what's called kleptoparasitism. That's the term for when a fish tries to steal another fish's meal once the meal is injured/subdued. Pike do this a lot.

Another vote for the fusion hooks. I've had no issues with these. I use 1/0 for 5" worms.

This is what I frequently do. Honestly, I think your attitude of expecting to catch fish every time is a good thing. I believe that leads to becoming a better angler. It's hard to remain confident after a couple bad trips, but focus on what you learned in the process and what to do differently next time. Gotta put all the pieces together, the good and bad.

I can't think of anything that I haven't caught bass with, but I rarely ever throw cranks for largemouths due to the crazy amount of veg in the lakes around here. I hate picking grass off of trebles all day. But shallow cranks are almost all I use for river smallmouth. I have not tried drop shot enough to have confidence... something I really should do.

I usually just get halfway prepared...may tie on a fluoro leader the night before, but wait on tying on the actual lure until I know exactly what I want to do when I arrive to the water. It only takes 1 minute to tie a knot. I also usually have a rod with a T rig ready but no plastic on the hook yet. Also a rod with a fast snap for quick changes of topwaters, cranks, etc. Add: My favorite thing to do the night before is load a plano box up with a dozen for so selections that I am confident will work for the situation/water body. This forces me to think more about how I'm presenting the lure over what lure I'm using.

I'd suggest at least a 7' rod to increase casting distance. I have a 8' B&M Crappie rod that's really whippy but has a lot of backbone. I use a 25 size President with 4 lb mono. I use it for panfishing and light walleye jigs.

I don't throw worms much anymore...only when it seems fit, when faster presentations aren't working. Most times, I work a bulky creature bait or a jig instead of a worm. I don't mess around with any worms smaller than 8" anymore. The huge 10" versions still catch 12" bass. I find that worms consistently catch fish with a slow drag and pause cadence.

I don't, but should! Thanks for the reminder. As mentioned, I think what has dettered me is the short casting distance. Next time I do some pond kayaking, I'm throwing on the old gold #9 my dad gave me years ago.

I have a 130 model, my catches have ranged from 1-4 lbs on it. And a mid-30's muskie.

YouTube is an invaluable tool for learning the when, where, and how of gear and lures. If you want to learn more about the "why", I believe there's no better publication than In Fisherman. They cover a wide range of species, and always have a bass article or two every issue. They really dig deep into the science of how fish behave and then apply it for improved angling success.

As a rod builder, I can't get my head around how these guides were epoxied without someone checking the alignment first. That's pretty ugly. It would bother me aesthetically...I had a *** rod that every guide was in line but all were off from the reel seat. That thing casted like crap.

I prefer mornings - there's something magical about the super calm water at sun-up. That said, I get more chances in the evenings. You can't go wrong with morning or evening this time of year, especially to avoid the heat.

Only thing I'd add is that I have much better luck hooking up with a regular fluke, rather than the 5" super fluke. I have cut down the super flukes to make them smaller, but it hampers the action somewhat.

As mentioned, I'd try frogs in shoreline slop, or a double Colorado spinnerbait for big vibration. I wouldn't be afraid to try a steadily moving topwater like a Whopper Plopper. I would focus on not making your bait too hard to track down in the lower vis water clarity.

Indeed. Once I tried it, I have never gone back to anything else.

Stick baits....Husky Jerks are my favorite of this style.

If I'm slumping, I try to arrange my next fishing outing for dawn or dusk, and use aggressive tactics. Sometimes I just need to bag a few easy fish to regain confidence before attempting a bunch of finesse options. Trying to break a dry spell by bottom dragging a plastic during bluebird skies is the last thing I'll do. I'd rather panfish during those times. My advice is to pick high percentage times/areas and go back to baits you have confidence in.

Got this big girl on a jig, between a dock and a pontoon on a hoist. What a crazy fight, considering I had about 8 inches to work with between boat hoist and dock. It pays to spend the dough on Sufix 832! Close to my PB, it went 22". I put her back, of course.

The only opportunity for smallmouth locally for me is in a relatively small river. Fish caught generally range from 10" to 17". Over the years, I have found that the most effective baits are in the 1-1/2" to 2-1/2" range. In my experience, when I upsize to "normal" sized cranks and plastics, I rarely catch anything, although the average fish caught is bigger. That said, all of my biggest smallies have still come off of the smaller baits, i.e. #6 xraps, husky jerks, 1-5/8" Bomber Square A's. I believe size of forage is very important here. And I'd rather have a mess of action for smallies than one bigger fish(I differ on that for largemouths). IMO, a perfect smallmouth rod for these tactics is a ML with fast action. I use a 6'3" Quantum Smoke ML for my river work. The length is great to avoid overhanging trees, and it's strong enough to handle the occasional 20"+ walleye or catfish.

Hey everyone! I'm an avid bass angler from NW Iowa. Being the most common sport fish here in my parts, bass have been a part of my life for 20+ years. I love to "power fish", running spinnerbaits, topwaters, and cranks as much as I can get away with it. I've browsed around the site many times, but finally thought I'd make some contributions. I don't do Facebook anymore so I'm looking forward to some interesting discussion here with the community. Thanks!

Gotta love em. When it's windy and overcast, you can bet I'm chunking and winding a spinnerbait.

I would say it's only worth it if you are big into a specific technique, like if you wanted to make your own rubber skirted bass jigs or love to fish shaky heads. You really have to make a ton to be worth it. I make my own ball head jigs for fly tying, which I eventually sell, so it's worth it for me.

My all-time favorite square bill is the Bomber Square A. They have always been an economical choice, but they seem to be harder to find lately. The 2" version is just right for largemouths, and the 1-5/8" version is great for everything in rivers around here.